The answer, say leading groups of businesses, hospitals, doctors, labor unions and insurance companies -- as well as senior lawmakers on Capitol Hill and members of the new Obama administration -- is unprecedented government intervention to create a system of universal protection.

At the same time, those groups, which span the ideological and political spectrum, largely have agreed to preserve the employer-based system through which most Americans get their health insurance.

The idea of a federal, single-payer system patterned on those in Europe and Canada, long a dream of the political left, is now virtually off the table."

Now we shall see what Obama is made of. Most of this "consensus" is from the power elite, NOT folks who know what they are talking about. There is no dispute that the simplest, cheapest, most effective solution is expanding Medicare coverage for all Americans. And there is tremendous support for this idea not only among the American electorate, but among most businesses that struggle to provide health care for their workers including automakers. So if Obama truly wants the best solution to a problem and not just what lobbyists are willing to settle for, the single payer solution needs to be on that table.